Lydia joined Fanny Kiefer on Studio 4 on Thursday, July 15th to talked about Jalapeno Handshake. Watch here:

Lydia Johnson with Fanny Kiefer

Natalie Sission is someone to keep a watch on! She’s created a new website http://www.womanzworld.com. Really great content and she was kind enough to do an article about my book. check it out at http://www.lydiajohnson.ca/spicy-strategies-to-heat-up-your-business-relationships/

 Vision or Hallucination?

 So many companies don’t put a lot of work into building a strong vision of where they want to go. They have some idea and some companies get to where they want to go on the “any road will do” trip. On the other hand, lots of great companies spend a great deal of time getting their vision clear. This is time well spent and takes a lot of effort and most often, several if not many people’s time and effort. Getting everyone on the same page to see the same future vision is not easy work. But it is very worthwhile and pays off big time down the road.

 The trick is….is it a Vision with a Plan? Or is it just a vision? Someone was quoted in saying “A Vision without a plan is just a hallucination”. That makes a ton of sense.  It’s great to have a clear destination in mind and even what it will be like when the company gets there, but the how in getting there is often left to figure out by hit and miss. This makes the vision less real and in the end a much stronger likelihood of not being reached. The same holds true for any personal goals we have. Doesn’t matter what the goal is, it needs to have a clear vision of what is being sought after. The getting to the goal part is a plan and needs to be part of the whole process. Otherwise, it may be just a hallucination.

So why do so many companies and individuals not make plans to getting to their destination or vision? Well, for one thing, it’s hard work! It takes discipline and in some cases a certain amount of courage to do what needs doing. It’s about challenging the team, or individual, and even challenging the norm to getting on track with an effective process. Regardless of what needs doing, there has to be a plan to move forward. Action is what makes things happen and action gets the process moving. One action at a time gets things moving closer to the vision that sometimes seems to be miles away.

 To avoid the hallucination syndrome, a process of actionable steps is critical. Who is doing what by when…..kind of thinking. If you have a list of what needs doing, who is doing it and when they need to have it done by, you can measure your success towards the goal, or vision. Execution is what most often fails. All the hours or even days in some cases, spent in meetings, planning sessions and much discussion will all be for not, unless a vision has legs. Legs start with Action. In fact, I like to say massive action!

 Consider your last strategic plan, or your last most successful plan towards a vision…..was it the vision and the great meetings that gave you your success? Or was it the action you took in getting to it? The action of course. Now consider, a time when things didn’t go so well….was the goal wrong, or the vision the wrong one, or was the list of actions vague, not measured, with no idea of who was doing what by when. Hhmmm, a good reflection piece.

Read Lydia’s interview with Natalie at Womanz World – Blog for female entrepreneurs. Where Lydia discusses her passion and her book, offer advice to other entrepreneurs and speak about her book – The Jalapeno Handshake – Strategies to Heat up Your Business Relationships.

Lydia Johnson entered the world of sales when she was just 12 years old and has since racked up more than 32 years of professional experience in the areas of

via Spicy Strategies to heat up your business relationships.

Ok, so for all women who have given birth, or for all the guys who have watched women give birth, you’ll get where I’m coming from…..it’s been almost 9 months and my book, The Jalapeno Handshake is about to arrive!! I just talked with the company who has them…..only 40 miles away, in their container truck and it looks like i will have them here tomorrow….the BIRTH! Feels like I am in labour at the moment, pacing around waiting for another call to confirm the delivery time tomorrow…..is everything ready I ask myself as i walk around? where will i put them? how will i protect them? when will i show them off and start handing them out? oh yes folks, feels just like labour pains and the birth is right around the corner! I’m gonna be a book momma!

South Delta Leader – Hot advice.

I have been featured in the South Delta Leader!

A Tsawwassen woman has blended her passion for sales and self-empowerment into a book on how to heat up business relationships.

Read the full article here!

I was just interviewed for a radio show in Texas…we had some fun talking about my book. Hey how can you go wrong….The Jalapeno Handshake and 2 guys from Texas asking about it! The guys were great….Mike & Jesse, of Newstalk 96.9. You can tell how much fun they have as well, and I suspect it must take a lot of work some days to get themselves geared up to entertain the many listeners. I’ve just been thinking about how great it always is to be able to have that kind of “company” to listen to,  as many of us make our long treks into work, especially in early mornings.

So here’s to the many men and women who get up extra early to make us laugh, or just smile, keep us informed, and  entertain us when we drive to our destinations. These radio show hosts have a very special talent to keeping us engaged and make our drives a little bit easier each day. Thanks to the many Mike & Jesses out there!

I read a quote of Einstein’s today- ” Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present, but an equation is something for eternity.”  It made me think of the impacts of a strong leader. The impacts can last for a very long time….years, and some of us think back to key influencers in our lives…the strong leaders that made a huge impact on us……that impact has lasted for years possibly. Ican sure think of some like that…hey Mr. Wilton, where are you?

Wow, how I would love to sit and have a coffee with him…my grade 7 track & field coach! His impact wasn’t an equation in the sense that Einstein might relate to, but his influence and impact sure have made a difference in my life.

Who are the leaders that made an influence on you?

I’ve been working on new workshop for women. I plan on offering it in the fall. I’m having fun working on the dynamics of a workshop topic called ‘How old are you if you didn’t know how old you are?’

I got the idea from some reading I did with a colleage I met at seminars. Mindy Sidhu, my soon to be seminar partner, and I have a great concept planned for this seminar and this popped into our minds for a great idea. We had fun discussing how old we are.

Send me a comment to let me know how old you think you are or if you have any ideas exploring this idea. Watch for the seminar this fall (hopefully).

Hello to friends, family and biz folks!

Ok, so for starters…this is a bit weird for me to send this shameless promo off to you….but, hey, so it is! You see, from time to time, I have been getting emails asking when my book will be out….. The Jalapeno Handshake, Strategies to Heat Up Your Business Relationships. So I figured I will tell you now that it is finally at the printers and will be delivered to me within a few weeks…hot off the press, so to speak!

I have a book website…check it out… www.thejalapenohandshake.com . I hope you will have a peek, see what the book is about and hey, if you are interested, you can even buy one, right from the website! Or more of course.

Thanks for your interest, or your peek, or maybe both! Here’s to Jalapeno Handshakes in your future!!

Cheers,